The Sonning Prize is Denmark’s largest cultural award (DKK 1 million) and is given every other year by the University of Copenhagen for commendable work that benefits European culture.

The nomination to the Sonning Prize states: “Orhan Pamuk’s largest contribution to European culture is his obvious challenge of the cultural boundaries and his clarification of the many possibilities that lie within crossing those boundaries.”

A recurrent theme of Orhan Pamuk’s authorship is the contrast between East and West. A contrast which, according to Orhan Pamuk, should be regarded as an advantage rather than a conflict to be solved. His work contains a strong belief in a Europe with fewer cultural boundaries, an inclusive Europe that does not choose between East and West but instead attempts to unite the two.